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Co-Chairs:

Alma L. Lee, President, AFGE-NVAC

Labor Co-Chair

Meghan Serwin Flanz, DAS for LMR

Management Co-Chair

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Welcome and Introductions

Meghan Flanz, Alma Lee and Donna Terrell welcomed the group. The NPC members present were:

Mark Bailey on behalf of Susan Anderson

Leroy Bauer on behalf of Elaine Gerace

Mary-Jean Burke

Meghan Flanz

Alberta Franklin

Walt Hall

Rosell Knight

Alma Lee

Diane Mayes on behalf of Alice Staggs

Claudia Moore

Christine Polnak

Robert Redding

Richard Thomesen

Mike Walcoff

Dick Wannemacher

Irma Westmoreland on behalf of Ann Converso

Bill Wetmore

2008 VHA All Employee Survey

Sue Dyrenforth presented the National results and findings on the 2008 VHA All Employee Survey (AES), conducted from 4/21/08 to 5/12/08. The response rate for 2008 was 72.8%. It is the third year the response rate has been over 70% (70.2% for 2006 and 76.2% for 2007). Ms. Dyrenforth credits the NPC with assisting in giving credibility to the AES.

Most participants are responding via the web. There is a pilot outreach for those participants who respond using paper, to request that they answer by phone or web instead. The objective is to reduce and/or eliminate paper responses so that results are available earlier.

The previous years’ responses evidence that people were leaving the agency when they had been in the VA long enough to retire, but now more employees are staying with VA past their initial retirement eligibility or are leaving to go to other jobs rather than retiring.

More Wage Grade (WG) employees are responding; that trend may evidence more WG employees in the VA. The survey responses evidence that more employees are working in multiple areas. Most of the survey respondents work in Administrative positions.

Bob Redding asked whether other organizations give incentives for participation in surveys like the AES. Dr. Dyrenforth responded that other organizations do give incentives. Plenty of research has been done on whether organizations give incentives and whether incentives affect the results of the survey. The research shows that the actual results do not vary with incentives. The response rate does vary with incentives but not the substantive results of the survey.

Tracking response rates daily makes a big difference. This is so because employees know that when there is a high response rate the data accumulated is more accurate, and because employees feel competitive with other work groups or facilities and want their own work group/facility to have the highest response rate.

The components of the AES are: Job Satisfaction Index (JSI), Organizational Assessment Inventory (OAI), and Culture. The JSI shows that employees are overall more satisfied. This is so because the VA mission is highly satisfying to employees and the agency had a better budget this year, leading to better staffing and better resources to help employees do their jobs.

The AES results show that the youngest and oldest employees are happier than those in the middle. People in group ages 30-39, 40-49, and 50-59 are not as happy as those in age groups 20-29 and 60- up.

Senior VHA got significantly less happy this year over prior years. The reasons may be that performance measures got harder and there are more demands placed on this group than in previous years. Dr. Dyrenforth explained that she does not know whether private sector health care systems’ employee satisfaction surveys show similar results. This is because while VHA publicizes the results of its AES, private sector organizations generally keep their results private.

When results are viewed by VISN, it is clear that overall satisfaction increased. The VISNs with the lowest satisfaction rating are still moderately satisfied.

The OAI measures employee perceptions of work group conditions. Great predictors of organizational control are “job control,” “demands,” and “civility.” Employees’ perceptions of their job demands have gone up but job control has gone up too. Employees apparently feel that they have a say in the work they do. Civility is a great predictor of turnover, EEO complaint rates, absenteeism, etc. Moreover, if the workforce is highly civil, patients do better. By contrast with rank and file employees’ responses, which showed improvement in OAI scores, senior executives’ OAI responses dropped in every category.

The Organizational Culture portion of the AES measures employees’ perceptions of their work culture based on four elements: Group[1], Entrepreneurial[2], Bureaucratic[3] and Rational[4]. The Group, Entrepreneurial, and Rational elements are considered good, in that higher scores are better, while the bureaucratic element needs to be held steady – too high means rules are too rigid, but too low means the workplace lacks the rules necessary to prevent chaos. Dr. Dyrenforth asked the NPC to support her intention to change the word “bureaucratic” for next year’s AES to “structured” instead, since “bureaucratic” tends to have negative connotations while “structure” or “structured” is more judgment-neutral.

Employees’ perception of Group Culture across the VISNs increased. The CREW initiative was used at some facilities to improve group dynamics, and that initiative seems to have increased the group culture scores at those facilities.

Several NPC members raised questions and concerns about the survey being distributed every year. Chris Polnak stated that when the survey is distributed every year it is difficult to look at the results and make significant changes based on those results before the next survey is distributed. Dr. Dyrenforth agreed and said she is trying to change the schedule to every two years.

Bill Wetmore asked Dr. Dyrenforth to clarify whether AES response rates are part of facility Directors’ performance measures. Dr. Dyrenforth stated that Directors are not appraised based on actual response rates, but are required to have a process for making the survey results available to employees and for responding to concerns raised through the survey.

Leroy Bauer raised a concern about employees not completing the survey because they feel they are required to complete too many surveys each year. Dr. Dyrenforth acknowledged that “survey fatigue” is a real problem and that she has advocated that VHA issue no more than two surveys per year.

Dr. Dyrenforth asked for, and received, the NPC’s informal support for her recommendation that the AES be administered every other year rather than annually and that the term “bureaucratic culture” be changed to “structured culture” to make that aspect of culture more judgment-neutral.

Dr. Dyrenforth’s PowerPoint presentation is attached below.

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VISN 23 Employee Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Project

Dr. Michael Hodgson discussed a pilot program in VISN 23 called Employee Health Promotion and Disease Prevention. He mentioned that in 2001 they had determined that the agency needed to have a robust safety program before having the health promotion program.

The proposed elements of the program are:

• VISN 23 Pilot Initiative

• National Survey

• Smoking cessation

• Disease Management

The program will be led by a T-38 Program Director (probably a physician), and two staff for program support and evaluation of results. There will also be .5-1.0 FTEE at each facility in VISN 23. The program should not be run with volunteers. At each facility, they need dedicated staff to manage the program.

The Steering Committee drafted a charter and the NPC received a copy and a request for review of the document.

The content of the program is:

• Smoking cessation

• Musculo-skeletal disease management

• Exercise

• Diet

• Stress Management

OPM permits Federal Agencies to use appropriated funds to provide nicotine patches to employees. VHA needs to issue policy before implementing that program.

The Musculo-skeletal disease management is important and it will be achieved by integrating health promotion into safety. There are many injuries to employees caused by patient transfers and falls. Employees who receive treatment in-house have much lower cost for the agency and better long-term outcomes than those treated outside the VA.

Exercise guidance is needed because aerobic exercise and stretching are key to injury avoidance.

Diet must start with dietary assessment and whole approach to diet management.

For stress management, VHA needs to develop some mechanism for dealing with workplace and home stressors such as supervisors’ marital status, financial stress, etc. They are looking at an online stress assessment tool plus paper-based assessment for those who are not comfortable with completing the assessment online.

The National survey has not been designed yet. The content of the survey will most likely be related to smoking status; exercise/diet; VISN 23 Influenza instrument; readiness to change; and, stress questions.

The smoking cessation program goals are to provide free nicotine replacement therapy and counseling for all smokers; and, to eventually have smoke-free campuses. Irma Westmoreland asked whether it was plausible or even desirable to try to make VHA facilities smoke-free campuses. Dr. Hodgson clarified that this is a goal that is well-established in the medical literature, which shows that patients should not see smoking going on around them, but that it will likely take 15-20 years to achieve this goal VHA-wide.

Claudia Moore expressed concern about nurse practitioners being written up for refusing to take patients to smoke. The nurses generally have to stay with patients and are exposed to second-hand smoke. Dr. Hodgson was not aware of this problem and will address the concerns.

Diane Mayes commented that there is a need for employee fitness opportunities. Dr. Hodgson acknowledged the need but said that many of the VA hospitals are old and there are space constraints. Many times the VA Medical Centers do not have space to add fitness facilities.

Mark Bailey asked about walking trails created in some VAMCs many years ago. He also brought up a concern about smoke free campuses and the need for employees or veterans to go out on the street to be able to smoke.

Claudia Moore expressed concern about employees possibly getting injured while exercising. Would they be covered by the OWCP program in such instance? The answer was that they probably would if the injury occurred during the employee’s tour of duty, but not if it occurred after the tour ends.

Mike Walcoff, Mark Bailey and Donna Terrell had a discussion about occupational health services within VBA facilities. Mike and Donna clarified that many VBA ROs contract with the Public Health Service or with private companies for EAP services, and that where ROs are co-located with VAMCs, the VAMC provides occupational health services for RO employees.

Dr. Hodgson’s PowerPoint presentation and the draft charter are attached below.

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FLITE Program

Leslie Abbott and Tom Beaty briefed the NPC about the FLITE Program.

FLITE replaced Core FLS but it is still in planning stages. FLITE is a multi-year initiative to replace existing financial and asset management/inventory systems with integrated, enterprise-level systems.

FLITE’s primary objectives are to design, develop and implement an integrated financial and asset management system to resolve the material weakness the VA has which is a “lack of an integrated financial management”; to provide management with access to timely and accurate information in financial, logistics, budget, asset management and related areas; and, to establish an advanced technology environment.

FLITE will replace IFCAP. The two primary collaborative components of FLITE are the Integrated Financial Accounting System (IFAS) and Strategic Asset Management System (SAM). IFAS focuses on financial management and SAM focuses on asset management and inventory. Thorough the use of IFAS and SAM many manual processes will be automated; multiple entries of the same data will be minimized; and, multiple versions of historical data, vendor files, item files, and legacy systems will be automated.

The FLITE PowerPoint presentation is attached below.

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Nursing Updates

Rosell Knight provided the Office of Nursing Services (ONS) Update.

There are six new partnerships approved for this year for the National Nursing Academy with Universities and Colleges. VHA is encouraging RNs to serve as faculty for nursing students. This is being done because a lot of people could not get into nursing schools because there was not enough faculty.

The partnerships are between the following:

• Tampa-University of South Florida

• Oklahoma City- University of Oklahoma

• Detroit, Battle Creek, Ann Arbor and Saginaw-University of Detroit and Mercy Saginaw Valley State Univ.

• Charleston, SC-Medical University of South Carolina

• Providence-Rhode Island College

• Hines- Loyola College

Four VA hospitals participated in the National Nursing Academy in 2007. All four VAMCs saw a tremendous increase in people working in the VA and in enrollment in the partnering Universities/Colleges.

National RN Residency Program

This program is being developed. This is a 12-month program for new RN graduates. The program is composed of three months of basic orientations and then the nurses go on the floor and do their clinical training. The nurses will then have very specialized training. Some VAMCs already have the same type of program.

Currently, VHA is working on creating an evaluation tool for RNs when they complete the program to determine if it is effective. One of the reasons for the program is because they have been seeing new graduates leaving the VA quickly because of increased acuity. VHA is hoping the program eases the transition and allows nurses to vent, gain confidence, and learn that their experiences are not unique and that work will get easier.

Nurse Professional Standards Board Training (NPSB)

All RNs must go through the NPSB training and must pass the test. The test can be taken as many times as necessary. The VA is using VALU-LMS to track whether the training has been completed.

Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL)

This is a new role that VHA started. It is different from the Clinical Nurse Specialists (CNS) because the CNS specializes in a specific area and has assigned patient load.

The CNL works on a particular unit and does not have a particular patient load. These nurses can go on rounds with physicians (while staff RN’s don’t have time), can pass along to staff RNs the physician’s recommendations and orders for patients, as announced during rounds. The CNL becomes an expert on that particular unit.

Everyone with the CNL title must be certified. Because the certification is required, the position is not entitled to a special achievement award.

The pilot will be extended to each polytrauma unit.

LPN-7

Rosell said there are 373 GS-7 LPNs as of January 2008. She does not know how many slots are currently available.

“Let’s get certified” Campaign

This campaign promotes quality patient care and shows dedication to nursing as a profession. Some certifications are now available for LPNs.

ONS is planning national on-line courses to prepare nurses for certification exams. Most certifications remain voluntary.

ONS OIT Initiatives

A pilot that will start this fall is called Patient Flow Sheet. The ICU RNs started this program already. This is a flow sheet that will automate the manner in which patient intake and output is recorded. Once it is tested for the patient intake and output, it will become a generalized flow sheet that will be used from when the patient arrives in ER to wherever the patient goes to. The process used to be done manually.

ONS has created the first communication tool between DOD and the VA. When patients leave DOD, their treatment plan is entered into the system and is available for the VA to continue treatment.

HR will start updating employee’s assignment codes. A lot of times RNs get higher education and their codes are not updated in the system.

Staffing Methodology Pilot (VISNs 1, 6, 15, 16 and 20)

ONS is revising the current Directive on staffing. They will try to get an automated data system to determine staffing levels and patient care outcomes. JCAHO will be interviewing staff about their involvement in staffing levels. Staff will be asked whether they were involved and if they agree on the levels.

EEO Grade Parity

Mike Dole from the Office of Diversity Management and Equal Employment Opportunity (DM & EEO) discussed the VA grade parity goals.

DM & EEO looked at VA employees at the GS level and determined that as the grades get higher, the proportion of minorities decreases.

The promotion rate in the VA is fairly even with the onboard rate for different genders and race. In Grades 7-12, age seems to account for minor fluctuations between the promotion rate and the onboard rate. The data suggests that the VA is conducting a promotion program that is blind to race and gender.

There is a decrease in the percentage of targeted disability for the onboard vs. the promoted.

For Grades 1-9, it looks like the number of promotions may vary by administrations, but race is not impacted. It looks like people in these grade levels are improving their grades by moving into occupations with higher ceilings.

The proportion of minorities decline as the grade levels go up. (GS 12-15)

There is no trend by race and gender for promotions and awards. These seem to correlate with availability and not race or gender.

As baby boomers retire, there will be a dramatic change in the leadership pipeline. The proportion of white women and minorities will explode.

The variations in promotion rates for RNs depend on training and are generally not racially driven.

All facilities should look at employment rate for people with disabilities. Circumstances might be different in different facilities, but it looks like the rate of employees with disabilities is decreasing because the clerical positions that these employees have generally held are disappearing.

Mike Dole’s PowerPoint presentation is attached below.

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NPC Discussion

Bill Wetmore had requested that the group discuss the NPC Strategic Plan during this meeting. Per group consensus, the Strategic Plan was not discussed.

The group moved on to discussing the nominations for the Secretary’s LMR Award. A sub-committee of the NPC was created and their recommendations for the award were as follows:

The Boston VAMC should receive the Overall Achievement award. Loma Linda and Northport were a very close second and third place; Walla Walla would be considered to be in fourth place; and, Durham in fifth. The nominations submitted by San Francisco and Tampa were not considered. San Francisco’s nomination package was almost identical to the one submitted, and for which it won in 2006. The Tampa nomination package was based on a required initiative and was therefore eliminated from the group to be considered.

The group decided to have one winner and four honorable mentions. The NPC did not receive any nomination packages from the VBA or NCA.

The group discussed whether to recommend anything to presenters after each presentation. It was agreed that the NPC would offer recommendations if the presenters requested some action from the group. The NPC could also ask presenters whether they wanted a recommendation from the NPC.

The group agreed that it needs to make it clear in the agenda that there should be time allotted for discussions after the presentations.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Nurse Retroactive Promotion

Kent Wellman reported on the RN retroactive promotion and informed that policy changes have not been made. He believes that since the issue is covered in Article 54, Part F of the AFGE master agreement, the change to the policy might not be necessary. Article 54 states that “Proficiencies will be done timely to prevent delays in the boarding cycle. Employees whose proficiencies have been unduly delayed without good cause will be made whole.”

There were questions about how to calculate the day the promotion was supposed to have been effective. There is nothing in current policy that instructs facilities how to determine when the effective date would have been, but for the error.

UAN reminded Mr. Wellman that the AFGE article does not apply to their bargaining unit and there will be a need to have something separate from Article 54, Part F of the AFGE Master Agreement.

NPC Discussion

The group discussed the locations for the next meeting, tentatively scheduled for October 28-30. The options for the meeting were:

Birmingham

Houston

Indianapolis

Black Hills

Augusta

Denver

The group decided to have Birmingham as the first choice; Augusta as the second choice; and, Black Hills as the third choice. The meeting will likely be held in the Birmingham VAMC and tours of the VARO and the new cemetery would be included in the agenda.

NCA Update

Dick Wannemacher provided the NCA update.

NCA gathered their Directors, Foremen and senior office personnel in New Orleans for a conference in July. During the conference, there was a discussion on generational issues arising as people stay in the government until their 70s. Younger people coming into the VA tend to be color-blind and gender-neutral, while older employees come with different mindsets on those issues. Employees need to be aware of those differences.

NCA signed land agreement and will begin construction of a new cemetery in Birmingham. This will be the 127th or 128th National Cemetery.

Two new cemeteries have opened in Sarasota, FL and West Palm Beach, FL. Philadelphia will be the 131st operational cemetery. By March 2009, the NCA will have completed the largest expansion in NCA history. NCA currently has 1650 employees. By March 2009, it will have 1750 employees.

77% of NCA employees are veterans. They want to hire at least five Iraq and Afghanistan veterans per month through March 2009.

They are also expanding cemeteries. NCA has requested 5 million to purchase land where it becomes available adjacent to each cemetery.

Fort Logan National Cemetery in Lakewood, Colorado is almost full. They are looking to purchase land south of Denver, where the veteran population is high.

The National Cemetery in San Diego has no casket space available but is still doing cremations. The cemetery needs to be expanded. They are looking to buy additional land from the US Marine Corps.

The Long Island National Cemetery is expanding.

NCA is asking for $32 million to partner with state veterans cemeteries so that veterans can be buried within 75 miles from home. They are also looking to build cemeteries on tribal land where tribes will own and operate the cemetery after the NCA builds it.

There were 300,000 headstones and 400,000 Presidential memorial certificates issued last year.

The NCA has a Safety Academy in Peoria, Illinois. The Academy teaches safe equipment operation and honorable service. Every time there is a burial in one of the cemeteries, the employees stop work and look to the East.

The ceremonies are done in shelters and not in burial site, for safety reasons. The NCA also honors the veterans’ religious or special preferences during ceremonies (i.e., Mariachi bands for veterans with a Mexican background and tribal drums for American Indians).

Personal Identity Verification (PIV)

Heidi Cross and Kevin Via provided the presentation on the PIV.

Heidi informed the group that PIV is a Homeland Security Presidential Directive. The Directive requires all federal agencies to use a government standard ID card for access to Federal facilities and information systems. All the cards within the federal government will look the same. The card is much more than and ID card. The card provides access to information systems, allowing employees to digitally sign e-mail and encrypt e-mail.

They are starting to deploy equipment needed for ID Cards. Currently there is no standardization of cards; every facility has a different card. The information in the current cards is covered by the Privacy Act but there is little oversight. With the PIV card, there will be a lot of oversight.

A PIV Handbook will be implemented once negotiations have been concluded with all the unions. The PIV cards are built to be identity theft proof and fraud proof. There will be no identification information built into the card.

The PIV Portal is being created. This will allow the PIV process to be completed via an online portal. VA Form 0711 (The form used to apply for the card) will still be available for those who do not have computer access.

A question was asked about card readers and when they will be available in all computers. The presenters did not know.

A question was asked on whether employees can cover part of their name for security reasons. The answer was that it is permissible to cover either first or last name for safety reasons. Some of the MOU’s signed with the unions address that issue. Ms. Cross also noted that if there is a safety reason, employees are not required to wear their cards.

A question was raised about employees’ fingerprints. Kevin Via responded that fingerprints are not stored. Fingerprints are only used to identify the card holder. It is just an additional form of identification.

The NAGE MOU addresses lost or stolen cards and NAGE bargaining unit employees will not be charged to replace a card.

Non-VA employees who work at VA facilities will get a PIV card. However, the process to get those cards might be different.

There are three types of PIV Cards. The Full PIV card provides for PKI Certificate, and sign and encryption e-mail capabilities. These cards are given to employees who will be on-site for over six months. Non-PIV cards do not include logical access (no need for access to computers). These cards are generally for people who will be in the VA for less than 6 months. There is also a flash badge.

There was a question about whether the PIV cards have tracking devices for those employees who might need that. The answer was no. There are sleeves you can buy that have trackers, but the trackers are not available in the cards. The sleeves provided by the VA block the reading of the information in the card. The only way the card readers can read the information in the card is if you take the card out of the sleeve and put it in the reader.

There was a question about what type of card students and trainees will receive if they will be in the VA for less than 6 months. The answer was that if they need full access to the VA system, they will need to receive a full PIV card.

The PowerPoint presentation provided on PIV is attached below.

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VBA Update

Mike Walcoff provided the VBA update.

In January, Ron Aument left the VBA and Mr. Walcoff has been Acting Deputy Under Secretary for Benefits since then. Diana Rubens has taken over Mr. Walcoff’s previous position of Director of Field Operations. He feels confident she will continue his outreach to unions.

He considered giving up his position on the NPC, but dos not want to do that because he gets valuable information from the meetings.

The President has nominated Admiral Dunne to be the Under Secretary for Benefits. He had been acting in that position.

The new GI Bill vastly expands education benefits for post 9/11 veterans. Everyone who is eligible will switch over to new Bill. The new Bill must be in effect by August 2009. VBA employees who currently do education work, are in four offices, and three are represented by AFGE. The Secretary has decided to contract-out the work done in these four offices. OGC opined that the A-76 process would not be followed in this instance.

The process of contracting out would have two parts. The first one would involve a new IT system to process the benefits, since the new benefits are so different than under the old GI Bill. The VA’s OIT has no ability to develop this system in one year. Processing benefits will also be contracted out. The Secretary wants to free up employees doing education work and move them to compensation area.

The Buffalo education office has 160 employees. The Atlanta and St. Louis offices have a similar amount of employees. Muskogee (no union representation) has about 200 employees. Only about 50 employees will be kept in each education office. The other employees will likely go to C&P; will get early outs; re-assignments to other offices; and/or may get buy-outs or early-outs. There will be no RIF.

There was a question about the impact of contracting out on Chapter 31. Some vets getting Chapter 31 benefits will move over to Chapter 33 because it is more lucrative.

C& P continues to be where VBA gets a lot of scrutiny. The question has been why in the 90’s it took 120 days to process a claim and now it takes 180 days. There was a Veterans Claims Processing Act passed which requires that the veterans submit certain information to the VA before the start of processing can begin. A lot of the processing time is spent waiting for the veterans to submit all the required documentation.

The 3100 new employees hired have helped with the processing time, but VBA still has to give vets time to provide the needed documents. The issue with these new employees has been space. The age group of employees hired is varied and VBA hopes most of these employees will stay with the agency for 20 years.

Because of the new hires, performance is starting to improve. Inventory of cases is down to 390,000, from 406,000. The average day for processing a case has gone down to 124 days.

There was a question on why there was a need to contract out education when the performance of that area is great. The answer was that the intent was to free up resources and to add some resources to the area where VBA needs more help. The Secretary of the VA and the USB are both very focused on getting inventory and average processing times down.

MJ Burke recommended VBA provide more education and media outreach to explain the components that make up the 180 day timeline.

There was also a question on whether inventory targets are different at each RO based on which office gets new claims. The answer was yes. Performance is assessed based on how well an RO processes claims with some consideration of how that RO’s receipts compare to the national average.

Inventory targets are based on receipts. Receipts are going up, but so is work being done. Production for 2008 is up 12%. Inventory is not down 12% because VBA is getting more receipts.

There was a question about how the new employees were distributed within facilities. Was it based on need? The answer was that to some extent employees were located in facilities with more receipts, and facilities that had more space available to place the new employees.

There was a question about how benefits delivery is at discharge. The answer was that the delivery is going well. VBA is expanding the paperless processing.

There was a question about nationwide foreclosure rate. The home loans within VA are healthy. VA’s foreclosure rate is below the national average. The VA has no sub-prime loans.

There was a question about whether non-OIF/OEF veterans are upset about the attention being given to these veterans. That issue has been raised but OIF/OEF veterans are going through a very difficult transition. That transition warrants different treatment for them at this time. However, giving priority to that group does not mean that the other groups of veterans are being ignored. They are being taken care of.

Meeting with local unions and management

Suzanne Klinker, Associate Director of the Western NY Healthcare System (WNYHCS); Lynn Rieck, President AFGE #3314 at the Buffalo RO; Bonita Reid, RN, UAN Vice President at the VA WNYHCS; James Carney, Chairperson SEIU Service and Maintenance Unit, Local 200 United at the VA WNYHCS; and, Sharon Machlowski, Chairperson SEIU Prof. Unit Local 200 United at the WNYHCS, participated in a brown bag lunch with the NPC.

Ms. Klinker mentioned that the WNYHCS won the Customer Service Award and that they are focused on quality of care. The union members mentioned that there is a good working atmosphere and a good working relationship between the unions and management. Ms. Reid mentioned that both parties have some disagreements but there is a good relationship. She gave kudos to the WNYHCS for optimal staffing levels.

Donna Terrell said that it was a pleasure working with Lynn Rieck and that she always has an open door policy. Ms. Rieck acknowledged the wonderful working relationship.

Management Analysis/ Business Process Reengineering Program (MA/BPR)

Aubrey Weekes briefed the NPC on MA/BPR.

MA/BPR is VHA’s initiative to comply with the President’s agenda. The goal is to continually improve the efficiency and effectiveness of VA services by providing a structured and adaptable approach for:

o Continually reviewing and analyzing VA’s performance in selected functional areas.

o Implementing leading-edge business practices that drive process improvements.

o Tracking and reporting performance results.

MA/BPR was not intended to result in layoffs or RIFs; just to make business more efficient.

The pilot study of food/nutrition/laundries has been completed.

Without terminating employees, the pilot studies have estimated that they will save $75.5 million over the next five years.

Across al 21 VISNs, the Laundry and Food Services Study Teams are implementing over 170 improvements to their operations.

They consolidated some laundry services to save money, save jobs, and avoid contracting out.

VISN 2 consolidated the laundry at Canandaigua.

VIAN 18 will be building a new laundry.

The upcoming study will be of Plant Operations and Ground Maintenance. This pilot will start in November. Mr. Weekes will encourage VISNs to include union leaders up front as the pilot rolls out. There was a concern about VISNs not providing adequate notice to local unions, specifically in VISN 4. Mr. Bailey believes some of the changes do not benefit the veteran.

There was a question about the reasons for conducting the pilot in all VISNs. Ms. Lee suggested not to study all the VISNS at the same time because it was too many people participating.

The funding for the study comes from VACO. The money for the changes after the study is completed comes from the facility budget (or from the VISN if there is a VISN-wide change). There is no mandate from VACO for any special change. Each VISN decides what changes to make, if any.

There is a proposal to close the Perry Point laundry in five years. That laundry would potentially be moved to Martinsburg.

Walt Hall mentioned that Congress threatened legislative action after a private laundry services company complained that the VA was taking business away from them and not competing fairly.

Uniform Allowance

OPM has increased the maximum uniform allowance to a maximum of $800.00. VHA conducted a market survey of 34 cities in 15 states. The survey showed initial allowance of $400 plus annual allowance of $204-220 was adequate for all employees, except for firefighters.

The survey showed the annual average costs for nurses, dentists and physicians to be $222; $219 for food production employees; and, $967 for fire fighters.

They are proposing to increase the allowance for firefighters to the maximum of $800.00.

There was a question about why police officers were not included in the list of people with uniforms. Mr. Weekes did not know.

The draft policy with revisions about uniform allowance will be sent to LMR and to the unions soon. Denise Biaggi-Ayer will send the NPC members the survey results.

Mr. Weekes’ PowerPoint presentation is attached below.

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VHA Update

Vivieca (Simpson) Wright provided the VHA Update.

There are 44 new CBOCs opening across the country in FY 2009. The process used to identify locations for CBOCs used to be identification of locations from the VISNs, with CO approval. The new process has CO choosing the locations for the CBOCs.

All the VISN Directors were meeting in DC at the end of June. Kevin Vigilante presented a Business Case Analysis. The Secretary wants to see business case for all purposes.

Odette Levesque is leading the performance review for FY 2008. This information will be gathered and will be presented to Bill Feeley in September.

The Spring Cluster Meetings were conducted in Dallas, Nashville and DC. The meeting is a great opportunity for Mr. Feeley to take information to the field. VHA is starting to plan for the fall meeting. Union representatives have not been invited to these meetings.

The Senior Management Conference is scheduled for August 26-28, 2008 in Washington, DC.

There is a task group working to look at health benefits package. Universal Health Care group is making recommendations on benefits package for veterans.

There has been discussion about expanding enrollment to P-8.

VHA continues to get scrutiny of Mental Health treatment after a number of adverse events. Congress is looking at Mental Health staffing and wait times for appointments.

The meeting adjourned at 4:00 pm on July 30.

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[1] “Our people are our most important asset.”

[2] “Let’s find a way to do it better.”

[3] “Follow standard operating procedures.”

[4] “We get the job done!”

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